Bioware Employee caught reviewing Dragon Age 2

[faefrost]

Wow.
Was Dragon Age 2 that bad? I thought it was just /v/ being bored.

In a nutshell. It's nowhere near as good as DA:O, and thats the problem. It is not the best game Bioware has ever made. But it is still a Bioware game, and as such it is probably one of the better western RPG's to come out in the past half year. I mean it is far better than Fable III or Two Worlds Two much or whatever the frak it is called. Not quite as good as DA:O or Fallout:NV or Red dead Redemption just to sort of give you a frame of reference. It's a fun game. You will play it all the way through and will not walk away in frustration or total boredom or abandon it in fury at bad controls or broken systems. It all works, it's all fun. It's just not as deep or memorable as it's predecessor, which to be fair is some pretty big shoes to fill. DA:O was one of the best RPG's you have ever played. DA2, you probably won't remember most of the plot or quests a month after playing, but you will enjoy yourself while you play it. May not be good value at full release price, but well worthwhile once the price starts to drop.

 

[jthwilliams]

What's so bad about that? He's reviewing the game as a fan of it and not as a BioWare employee. Holy hell people are nitpicking about anything. There's no rule saying that a person who happens to work for a developer who releases a game he likes can't submit a review for that game on Metacritic. If I worked at BioWare, I'd probably do the same thing.

Its different when he copy pastes the same ad to advertise the game.

The immersion and combat of this game are unmatched! A truly moving and fun epic. Anything negative you?ll see about this game is an overreaction of personal preference. For what it is, it is flawlessly executed and endlessly entertaining.

Which ad is that a copy and paste from? because he used the word immersion? I believe you are reading the line that said that is "sounded" like an ad and building on it.

 

[DustyDrB]

What's so bad about that? He's reviewing the game as a fan of it and not as a BioWare employee. Holy hell people are nitpicking about anything. There's no rule saying that a person who happens to work for a developer who releases a game he likes can't submit a review for that game on Metacritic. If I worked at BioWare, I'd probably do the same thing.

Its different when he copy pastes the same ad to advertise the game.

I don't see anything about copying and pasting (or ads) in that article. What are you talking about? Is that something mentioned in a different article? I read the article linked in the OP three times and then word searched for "copy" and then "paste" and got nothing.

 

[Nurb]

THERE IS NO BIOWARE. ONLY EA.

Bioware is just a name now, they died the moment EA bought them. Supporting them means you support EA and all their bullshit.

Not buying anything published by EA or Activision would leave you with roughly two games per year, unfortunately.

And that's why the do what they do, they know gamers won't do anything but complain and keep spending money on DLC, day one DLC, internet tethers and online activation.

 

[Judgement101]

I wouldn't say they're the only ones, but this does put the first signs of blemish on my vision of Bioware. They are no longer pristine in my eyes.

Who's left?.....


nothing but a barren wasteland....

sorrow.

What about Valve?

Oh wait.

I love when people add pictures, it brightens up my day. (Sorry this was really off-topic)

 

[Vykrel]

ok, BioWare and EA really need to cut the shit if they want to keep at least SOME of their fans.

havent they ever heard of bad PR?

 

[Nurb]

THERE IS NO BIOWARE. ONLY EA.

Bioware is just a name now, they died the moment EA bought them. Supporting them means you support EA and all their bullshit.

Not buying anything published by EA or Activision would leave you with roughly two games per year, unfortunately.

And that's why the do what they do, they know gamers won't do anything but complain and keep spending money on DLC, day one DLC, internet tethers and online activation.

That might be because most gamers don?t have a problem with it.

I don't think paying customers are ok with having to put up with more of a hassle than pirates

 

[Grey_Focks]

Am I missing something? he submitted a Metacritic user review...something ANYONE can do. Now if there were multiple people from the company doing this, I could see cause for concern, but one guy? Hell, I doubt he's the first.

 

[sumanoskae]

*Sigh* I am very disappoint...

First there's that whole thing with that guy being suspended for badmouthing EA, which didn't turn out to be that bad, but now THIS?.

I don't even wanna call it douchey, cause it's just SAD...

What did they think this was going to accomplish anyway(No such thing as bad press, maybe?). It's not like one positive review is going to change the reception.

All this makes me wonder if theirs turbulence at the company

Maybe some sort of incipent panic over SWTOR? I really hope its going to be good, but going into that market is enough to make anyone nervous. Maybe BioWARE were hoping for very strong DA2 reviews to justify themselves in case SWTOR ends up tanking.

Either way, the treatment that DA2 is getting is shameful. I love the way the story is told, and I like how it focuses on the tale on the struggles of one family rather than presenting another version of LOTOR. I actually think its a step up from DA:O, though I'm willing to admit I might be biased because I played DA:O on the X-Box and DA2 on the PC.

I loved it to. But I think it's links to Origins are going against it.

I met my love interest from the last game, and when they didn't go on about our life of ideal family wholesomeness, I felt like someone was rubbing salt on an old wound. It opens a lot of questions about the first one, and it's harder to build new emotional links when your old ones aren't resolved.

I think it underestimates the degree some people connected to Origins. The fact that my in game character wasn't connected to these people made it worse, as I wasn't allowed to express the feelings I have towards them as a player, it throws up a barrier between me and Hawke. Now that I feel different, Hawke will be different, even though he has no reason to.

It's great, other then that, but it doesn't stand on it's own like Origins does, it could, but it doesn't. As a result, I'll have to wait for Dragon Age III to see what it was all worth in the end

 

[Sanctus Hospes]

I personally really enjoyed the new things Bioware tried. Closest thing to a non-God of War hack and slash I've seen for the 360. All wrapped up in a nice city imported from Assassin's Creed 2 and enough side quests to keep the stress from being the World's Last Hope to a minimum.

On retrospect I guess that was 2/3 sarcasm but I somehow still really enjoyed it and plan on playing it through at least one more time. And not just for the 'dark' ending.

PS - Woo the pirate chick.

Trust me.

 

[Westaway]

I leave in Edmonton and I know the Dr.'s and many of the employees. The Dr's have extremely open employment opportunities. I wouldn't blame Bioware, just an over-eager employee. And, I still wouldn't blame the employee. Also, Bioware does run autonomously from EA. I'm not defending the game in any matter, I rather dislike those kind of games. The employees and owner's though I will defend. Is it bad, yes it is, should Avanost get get flack no. Should EA get flack sure, they can always use some. Undecided about the employment strategies of Bioware though.

. I live in Edmonton too!
OP: I have neither, but I swear to God I thought the first looked better before I heard any complaints.

 

[redisforever]

I wouldn't say they're the only ones, but this does put the first signs of blemish on my vision of Bioware. They are no longer pristine in my eyes.

Who's left?.....


nothing but a barren wasteland....

sorrow.

What about Valve?

Oh wait.

GAH! My eyes!!!

Yeah, I used to like Bioware. Meh, I'm going back to my game of KotOR

 

[EqualNOpposite]

Man, they didn't have to pad it like that. The game has a metacritic of 85, last I checked.

 

[Googooguru]

people wouldn't care if some bioware employee gave a review of Mass effect 2 and gave it 10 on metacritic because that would be true... now for DA 2... not so much so

 

[sir.rutthed]

Well, that's pretty disappointing, but it may just be this guy doing it on his own and not under orders from Bioware. I really liked the game and think most of the negativity it's getting is from trolls. It's not the best game ever, or even the best in its genre, but it's a very solid RPG with great characters and engaging story. Some of you have said the exact opposite of that, and that's fine, it's just my opinion.

 

[godofallu]

The way Bioware is acting lately is just evil. I mean let's be honest, a lot of major reviewers accept bribes to some degree. Everyone knows that. Messing with user score though, that's fucked up. Metacritic user scores is one of the best ways to tell how good a title actually is.